Country: Spain
Movie Review: The mature Basque drama, “Loreak” (meaning ‘Flowers’), was surprisingly pleasant and warmly rewarding. Following their first successful collaboration five years ago with “For 80 Days”, sturdy filmmakers Jon Graño and Jose Mari Goenaga didn’t let their good reputation deteriorate, and now present us another poignant piece of genuine life. 40-something-year-old, Ane, seems satisfied while working for her company at a construction site, however, her personal life tells us she’s not so happy – the relationship with her husband is getting bitter and during a medical check-up she was told she had reached premature menopause. Once childless, we could feel a crushing depression coming down, but suddenly a baffling occurrence helps her to get over this phase. She starts receiving a big bouquet of flowers from a mysterious sender, on every Thursday. Apparently, the sender is a co-worker, Benat, a crane operator who ends up dying in a car accident. From this moment on, the flowers stopped to arrive, while the necklace Ane had lost, was found in the crane cabin. Like Ane, Benat was also struggling with his personal life since his wife, Lourdes, and widow mother, Tere, didn’t get along so well. Lourdes had a son from another marriage, but it seems the couple wasn’t able to have one of their own, despite the pressure made by the obnoxious Tere. An affair between Ane and Benat was very unlikely. A secret passion? Simply sympathy? The doubt remains, and our only certainty is that the three women’s fates are intriguingly connected. The light, in Javier Aguirre’s exemplary photography, strangely conveys a false serenity among the characters’ inner agitation. “Loreak” is as much thorough as elliptical, comfortably driven by a delicate approach, flawless performances, and a conscious structure.
